This invention relates generally to an electronic information display and customer location recognition, and, more particularly, to a computer based system for locating a customer""s position within a shopping store and displaying product and location information on a customer operated mobile terminal.
Retail stores today, especially supermarkets, compete fiercely to attract customers to their stores. One mode of attraction is via savings offered to customers in the two areas which are valued highly by most: time and money.
Most modern retail stores today use point of sale (POS) systems for providing customers with better, faster service. A POS system generally has one or more automated check-out terminals which is capable of sensing and interpreting the bar code printed on each item of merchandise to be checked out. Contained in the bar code is the item""s Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) code. Each of the check-out terminals is connected to a computer which processes the SKU information. The computer""s database includes a list of items of merchandise in the store, an SKU for each of these items, and various types of information, including pricing and inventory information, associated with each SKU. When a customer is ready to make a purchase, the store clerk simply uses an automated terminal to sense the bar code on each of the customer""s selections. The computer interprets the SKU contained in the bar code, looks up the price for each item, and keeps a running total of the purchase.
Savings in money are offered to customers by the stores through lower prices on particular items of merchandise. To inform customers of such sales items, stores advertise through direct mail, radio, television, and/or newspapers, and often offer coupons for taking advantage of the promotional items. Furthermore, within the store itself, signs on shelves and on shopping carts, as well as bold pricing indicators on the products for sale, aim to catch a customer""s attention and cause him or her to purchase the sales products.
The existing systems and programs designed to enable a customer to save time and money, however, leave a lot to be desired. For instance, although POS systems aid customers to speed the checkout process, they do not help reduce time during, or even before the shopping process begins. At home, customers often spend valuable time in preparing for the next shopping visit. For example, before going shopping, customers often investigate what items need to be replenished and what new items need be purchased. Many customers also spend time making shopping lists based on those investigations.
Once in the store, a customer continues to spend a considerable amount of time trying to locate the items that need to be purchased. Although in many supermarkets, signs throughout the store give customers a general indication as to the location of various categories of products, these signs fail to give customers precise location and direction information of specific products. Thus, many customers will roam the aisles in trying to locate the items he or she wants to purchase.
Customers, moreover, often fail to obtain the full benefit of the savings offered by a store. Despite the advertisements and signs within the store, it is not uncommon for a customer to walk by a sales item without realizing that it is on sale. Even if a customer does attempt to purchase an item advertised as being on sale, when the item is scanned during check-out, the price charged to the customer will sometimes not reflect the sales price and will go by unnoticed by the customer.
Therefore, there is a need for a shopping system which will aid customers to save time and money during shopping. Such system should give directions to the customer on items to purchase based on the customer""s current location, and give suggestions on promotional items and items that the customer may need to replenish.
These and other objects are accomplished in accordance with the present invention by an electronic personal shopping system which is used in a retail facility to assist shoppers to efficiently organize their shopping trips in order to save time and money. The electronic personal shopping system is able to give directions to the shopper to various items in the store based on the shopper""s current location and is also able to offer suggestions on promotional items and items that the customer may need to replenish.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the electronic personal shopping system includes a mobile terminal which may be either hand-held or mounted on a shopping cart at the desire of the customer. The mobile terminal is a microprocessor controlled unit and includes a portable scanner configured to read bar code information directly from items being considered for purchase. The mobile terminal is further configured to communicate with a store central computer by means of an individually addressable RF communication transceiver. Processed information is displayed to the customer on an LCD display panel. The mobile terminal further includes a reader/writer unit for interfacing with a smart-card like a customer ID card and a memory for storing data received either from the store central computer, the customer ID card, or both.
A merchandise item database, comprising at least a Price Look Up Table is organized into the store central computer""s memory and is configured to include identification indicia for each item of merchandise, such as brand name, generic name, price and the like and also includes location information for each item of store merchandise. As a customer scans the bar code of a particular item, the store central computer accesses that item""s location information and assigns that particular location to be the customer""s current location. Either the store central computer or the mobile terminal is then able to calculate a direction and distance to a desired destination item based on the customer""s current location and the location information assigned to the destination item in the merchandise item database.
In one particular aspect of the invention, the desired destination item is identified by processing the contents of a customer""s shopping list and choosing the closest item to the customer""s current location as the desired destination item. Direction and distance information, i.e., aisle and shelf number, is displayed on the mobile terminal""s display panel. Each customer""s shopping list is provided to the mobile terminal in various forms depending on the technology regularly available to a customer. A shopping list is recorded in a memory location on a customer""s ID card and is read into the mobile terminal through the reader/writer unit. The mobile terminal may then transmit the shopping list to the store central computer using the RF communication transceiver. Alternatively, the shopping list is prepared on a customer""s home personal computer system and is uploaded to the store""s web site through an Internet connection. The shopping list is then downloaded from the web site to the mobile terminal. An optical scanner is able to read handwritten shopping lists that have been prepared in advance by a consumer. Handwritten shopping lists are converted into digital data by an OCR translation application and are either written to the customer""s ID card or sent directly to the mobile terminal. However prepared and input, the customer""s shopping list provides one basis for either the mobile terminal or the store central computer system to determine a desired destination item and prepare a suitable, high efficiency path through the store.
In a further aspect of the invention, desired destination items are suitably chosen from a recommended replenishment item list with the closest item to the customer""s current location being chosen as the desired destination item. The recommended replenishment item list is generated according to the present invention by evaluating shopping history data records which are maintained on the customer ID card and analyzing items found in the data records with respect to a predetermined purchase interval period and the frequency of purchases of that particular item. Frequently purchased items for which a suitable period of time since the last purchase has elapsed are included as recommended items on a replenishment item list. In addition, a customer is able to affirmatively add certain items of merchandise to the recommended replenishment item list as well as delete certain items from the list which the customer no longer wishes to purchase. The recommended replenishment item list is written, by the mobile terminal, to a particular memory location on the customer""s ID card, where it updates any previously written recommended replenishment item tables. The recommended replenishment item table may be transmitted to a store central computer system over the mobile terminal""s RF communication link.
In a further aspect of the present invention, the customer ID card includes a customer personal profile memory section which lists certain demographic information with regard to the customer, such as age, sex, family status, i.e., children, and the like. Based on the customer""s personal profile, either the mobile terminal or the store central computer develops recommended promotional items which a customer with that profile would likely purchase. A closest promotional item to the customer""s calculated current location is then identified as the desired destination item and the mobile terminal displays those directions to the customer.
Thus, in accordance with the invention, customers are able to realize labor saving benefits during a shopping trip by moving through a store in a more efficient manner. Customers no longer need to search through the entire store to find a particular item of merchandise, but are instead directed to each next desired merchandise item along the shortest shopping path. Replenishment items, recommended promotional items and items contained on a general shopping list are all candidates for a next desired destination item based on the customer""s current location. Current location is assumed to be the store location assigned to the last item of merchandise which a customer has scanned into an electronic personal shopping system""s mobile terminal which communicates with a store central computer system over an RF link.